2004 National Forestry Rally Championship

DRIVERS Total NAVIGATORS Total

Kevin Lynch 118 Francis Regan 118
Kevin o Kane 107 Martin Hanna 107
Patrick Elliott 79 Liam McLoughlin 81
Pat Norris 77 Declan Tumilty 77
Stephen Moore 77 Sean Moriarty 70
James Cribben 70 Karl Baumawn 69
Brian Lawlor 67 Richard Cassidy 69
Paul Mulcahy 62 Peter Kavanagh. 69
Brian Murphy 56 Joe Downey 56

Posted: September 9, 2004 11:17 AM

• Championship Positions in Excel Format
  (Award winners are shown in bold).
  These results will become final 18:00 Monday 4th October ‘04.

• 2005 Forestry Championship Open Forum - 16 Jan 05
• 2005 Forestry Championship

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2004 Championship Dates

1. 22nd February Willie Loughman Memorial, Carrick on Suir
2. 28th March Sean Conlon Memorial, Mitchelstown (Tipperary Club)
3. 18th April Circuit of Wicklow, Wicklow (MEC Club)
4. 16th May Moonraker, Midleton (Munster Club)
5. 4th July Monaghan
6. 24th/ 25th July Cork 2 Day, Mallow
7. 5th September Killarney, Castleisland

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05/02/04
Welcome to the 2004 National Forest Rally Championship. The Organising Committee have put in a lot of hard work over the winter months and the 2004 Championship is set to be an even bigger success than last year.

There are 7 rounds with best 6 to count including a new event hosted by Monaghan Motor Club in July. Competitor’s can register for the championship at documentation in Carrick (round 1) or up to and including the fourth round.
We are delighted to welcome back the Ford KA Championship for the second year running. This year they have 3 forest rounds counting in their championship (Carrick, Tipperary & Cork 2-day). In an effort to further support the series and young drivers the Committee have introduced a class solely for KA’s (class 9). Other changes include dividing the 1600cc class into 8 valve and 16 valve, class points being allocated to 9th in class, 5 bonus points being awarded to any competitor who starts all rounds and there is an award for best 2WD overall in the Championship. Last year’s organising committee remain in place for a second term and are determined to build on the success of the ’03 series (Willie Walsh as Chairman, John Quill as secretary and Elaine Higgins as registrar). Willie Walsh has been in regular discussion with Coillte in an effort to build on relations between both parties. Coillte have given a written commitment that the forests are to be presented to clubs in a “Driveable Condition”. There will be a pre event and post event inspection with the onus on the clubs to finance the road repairs after each event. Willie Walsh along with the Forest Championship Committee continue to meet with Coillte in an endless effort to agree for a cap to be put on the road repair bill.

Hopes are high that the battle for championship honours will be fought as intense as last season, where we saw the title both in the overall and in a lot of the classes go right down to the wire. Competitors too have been busy over the off season, runner up in ’03 and twice former champion Kevin O’Kane has up graded from his Gp A Impreza to a ’99 spec Impreza WRC. John McCarthy, the man to beat last year has sold his Gp A ex Fisher Impreza and bought Austin McHale’s Corolla WRC. Three times championship winner Dermot Kelly will campaign his faithful Escort WRC in an effort to clinch his fourth title. Kevin Lynch is back with his state of the art Impreza P2000 WRC in an all out assault for the title. Pat Norris has bought an ex McKinstry Gp A Impreza and James Murphy has upgraded the spec of his Escort Cosworth.

Defending class champions John Shanahan, Gus Kearney, John Reid, Brian Lawlor, Billy O’Connell and John Carroll are out to defend their titles but will all face stiff opposition from their rivals as well as a host of newcomers including Patrick Elliott, Pat Price, Stephen Moore and Seamus Donnelly. Once again we depend on continued support from the media and all the websites that have supported the championship in the past season to maintain the prominent profile that the National Forest Rally Championship now holds. The onus is on the competitors’ to support all the various rounds and make the championship grow from strength to strength.